The present invention relates to a hand-held fishing reel, particularly for fishing from a moving boat, but also capable of being used for other types of fishing.
At present, when fishing from a moving boat, a line is unwound from a reel or frame and trailed behind the boat. When a fish is caught, two hands are used to pull in the line and as the catch is pulled in, the line gathers loosely in the bottom of the boat. Not only is there a danger of a coiled line entangling a fisherman's hands and fingers as a fish is pulled toward the boat, but also as the line is pulled into the boat it forms knots and kinks which have to be unravelled before the line is cast out again. Alternatively, when a fish is caught, the line can be rewound onto the fishing frame, but this is very slow and impractical especially when a large fish is caught.